World's biggest Quran

Afghan calligrapher Mohammed Sabeer Hussani, center, and nine student apprentices work on a page for the world's largest Quran - the Islamic holy book - at the Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Credit: Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center

Calligrapher Mohammed Sabeer Hussani, 52, and his team spent five years, working 18 hours a day, seven days a week to create the world's biggest Quran.

Credit: Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center

Afghan calligrapher Mohammed Sabeer Hussani's hand is seen carefully writing Quranic verse on a page of what will be the world's largest Islamic holy book.

Credit: Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center

Calligrapher Mohammed Sabeer Hussani's apprentices watch as he carefully works on the edges of a page. The Quran combines gold script with millions of tiny colorful dots, forming highly symbolic decorations around the giant pages.

"I wanted to use as many tasteful colors as possible to make this holy book look beautiful," he tells CBS News.

Credit: Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center

Workers at the Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center in Kabul work together to heft what they say is officially the world's largest Quran, which weighs in at 1,102 pounds and contains 218 pages of cloth and paper, bound in a leather cover made from the skins of 21 goats.

Credit: Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center

The massive work of religious literature and art was completed by Hussani and his apprentices in 2009, but it took another two years for a special room to be completed at the Kabul cultural center where the Quran will be kept. The unveiling was attended by an array of Islamic clerics and local officials.

Credit: CBS/Ahmed Jan

Calligrapher Mohammed Sabeer Hussani unveils the 7-foot tall, 5-foot wide Quran he and a team of apprentices worked on for five years in Kabul, Afghanistan.

Credit: Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center

Calligrapher Mohammed Sabeer Hussani carefully opens the Quran it took him five years to create at an unveiling ceremony in Kabul.

Hussani, a devote Muslim, says it was a labor of love and he is proud of his accomplishment.

Credit: Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center

The world's largest Quran, according to the Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center, which commissioned the work for about $1 million.

Credit: CBS/Ahmed Jan

Calligrapher Mohammed Sabeer Hussani discusses his work with Islamic spiritual leader Alhaj Sayed Mansoor Naderi, who footed the bill for the project, and other Islamic leaders during the unveiling ceremony in Kabul.

Credit: Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center

Hussani surveys his "labor of love" in its new home at the Hakim Nasir-e-Khusraw Balkhi Cultural Center in Kabul.

"My happiness is when I see each and every group of people coming everyday to see my calligraphy, it makes me feel proud," he tells CBS News.